SPOKANE, Wash., March 19 (UPI) -- Keaton Grant fired an early second-half run that carried fourth-seeded Purdue to a 72-64 win over Siena in an NCAA tournament first-round game.
The Boilermakers (28-5) earned a second-round appearance Sunday against fifth-seeded Texas A&M, which was a 69-53 winner over No. 12-seeded Utah State in its first-round game.
Siena (27-7) led through the first half and took a 32-29 advantage into intermission. But Purdue scored the first 13 points of the second half and put together a 20-3 run that allowed the Boilermakers to cruise to the win.
JaJuan Johnson scored the opening points of the second half with a 3-point play that tied the score before Grant hit the first of his three 3-pointers in the run. After Lewis Jackson added a short shot for a basket, Grant again connected for 3 points.
Purdue's Chris Kramer made it a 42-32 game before Kyle Downey broke the Siena drought with a 3-point shot. But Grant negated that with another 3-pointer. He and Johnson added baskets that made the score 49-35 with 13:58 to go.
A lengthy second-half Purdue drought allowed Siena to make the end a little tense but a string of free throws put things away for the Boilermakers.
Grant's 11 points in the run were all he managed in the game while Johnson finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Edwin Ubiles had 18 points as the leading Siena point scorer.
